More than 300 linguists,
lexicographers and grammarians voted on the award Friday at the
American Dialect Society's annual conference, held this year in
Washington, D.C.

The word "they" was selected
for the considerable traction it gained in 2015 as a singular,
gender-neutral pronoun.

English speakers have used "they" and "their" for centuries
to refer to someone of unknown gender, like in the sentence
"Everyone does their best."

However, more recently, the usage of the pronoun has expanded to
include people who choose to identify outside the traditional
gender binary.

"There has been a lot of discussion lately about pronouns and
people taking on their own pronouns, making that a matter of
choice," said Ben Zimmer, chair of the American Dialect
Society's new words committee, in an interview with Business
Insider.

"That’s an interesting development that singular 'they' is in the
middle of."

"It does say something about the way people are exploring gender
and sexual identity, and perhaps a greater openness to accepting
new ways of expressing that identity through language."

Zimmer pointed to various news outlets that have
broadened their linguistic standards in recent
months. In November, The New York Times
used the honorific "Mx." as an alternative to "Mr." or "Ms."
when a subject "preferred not to be assigned a gender."

The American Dialect Society has held the Word of the Year vote
since 1991. Previous winners include "occupy" in 2011,
"metrosexual" in 2003 and "chad" in 2000. Last year's winner,
#BlackLivesMatter, was the first time a hashtag won the
vote.

Here's the full list of 2015's winners and nominees (winners in
bold):

Word of the Year

Ammosexual: firearm enthusiast.

Ghost: (verb) abruptly end a relationship by cutting
off communication, in person or online.

"On fleek": excellent, impeccable, “on point.”

"Thanks, Obama": sarcastic expression in which a
person pretends to blame Barack Obama for a problem.

*They: gender-neutral singular
pronoun for a known person, as a non-binary identifier.

Most Useful

"Mic drop": definitive end to a discussion after making an
impressive point.

Microaggression: subtle form of racism or bias.

Shade: insult, criticism or disrespect, shown in a subtle or
clever manner.

*They: gender-neutral singular pronoun for a
known person, as a non-binary identifier.

"Zero f---- given," ZFG: indication of supreme indifference.

Most Creative

Adult: (verb) behave like a grownup.

*Ammosexual: firearm enthusiast.

Lowkey: (adverb) to a small extent, in a subtle manner;
opposite of highkey.